Krav Maga

If you are interested in Adults classes please click here for information on the adults Self Defence & Fitness classes we run

Archive News (May 2011 - July 2012)

Newlands Taekwon-Do Instructors Carl & Stephen Smullen attended an International Umpire Course (IUC) hosted by the Irish Taekwon-Do Association on the weekend of the 30th of June & 1st of July. The event was the largest Umpires course ever run by the ITF with over 180 participants from 18 countries in attendance. With participants travelling from Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, USA and Vietnam, this was an historic IUC as it was the first time that the updated ITF rules, which will be introduced from January 2013, where presented.

The Umpire course began on Saturday afternoon in the large Jean Monet theatre on the University of Limerick campus. Master Kenneth Wheatley, President of the Irish Taekwon-Do Association opened the event by welcoming the attendees from around the world as well as welcoming and introducing Grandmaster Bos 9th Dan member of the ITF Technical Committee and Director of the ITF, the Tournament Committee; Master Coos van den Heuval, Master Giovanni Ceccenato, Master Harry Vones & Umpire committee; Master Alberto Katz, Master Sandy Dunbar and Mr. Kurt Ottesen and the other masters in attendance, Master Paul Weiler (Senior Vice President of the ITF), Master Tadeusz Loboda (AETF President), Master Adelbert Wagner (Germany), Master Frank Vanberghen (Belgium), Master James Tjin-A-Ton (Netherlands), Master Gordon Wallace (Scotland), Master Thomas Denis (England), Master Patrick O’Rourke (Ireland) and Master Neil Franks (Ireland).

The opening address was delivered by Mr Brendan Dowling, the President of the Irish Martial Arts Commission, the National governing body for martial arts in Ireland. Mr Dowling spoke of the importance of working in a spirit of cooperation within martial arts as well as the positive role that IMAC has played in the development of martial arts in Ireland. Mr Dowling also praised the ITA for their work in promoting Taekwon-Do and their contribution to IMAC over the past number of years.

Grandmaster Bos then opened the umpires’ course by welcoming the attendees to the IUC and congratulating the ITA on planning such a well organised event on the impressive University of Limerick campus. Master Alberto Katz from Argentina and Mr Kurt Ottesen of Canada then proceeded to deliver a presentation on the rules of ITF Taekwon-Do competition. They explained the importance of courtesy in Taekwon-Do competition as well as competitor safety, before moving on to the more technical point of organising and running a ring council.

One of the highlights of the first day was the introduction of the new team sparring procedures. The ITF delegates explained that one of the reasons for the change was to ensure each competitor who travels to a major championship would get the chance to compete, and that the team competition would not finish after one team had won three bouts. The consequences of this new system were discussed with the experienced umpires, coaches and competitors in attendance given a chance to offer their opinion. This change to the rules in particular is bound to make an exciting impact at the next world championships to be held in Benidorm in 2013. The first day finished at 6:30pm, and with that the ITA volunteers headed the university arena to set up for the next day’s event.

A barbeque was planned for that evening at the Scholars Bar on the UL campus; a large number of the IUC participants as well as the ITF delegates came to enjoy an evening of good food and traditional Irish music. It proved to be a very enjoyable night that gave everyone a chance to catch up with old friends from around the world as well as make some new ones.

The final day of the IUC began on Sunday morning at 9am in the University Arena; the ITA volunteers had worked tirelessly to set up 5 competition areas, including areas for special technique and power testing. The impressive arena looked almost ready to host a major championships and all those in attendance were extremely impressed. The agenda for Day 2 began with Master Katz presenting the new system for umpiring patterns. This represents of the major changes to the rules with each competitor beginning with 10 points at the beginning of the match and accruing ½ point & full point deductions for any errors that occur throughout the performance, the competitor with the highest remaining score after the performance will be the winner. Master Harry Vones from Germany explained that a new electronic scoring system is in development which would allow patterns be scored in real time. After a short presentation, the participants were given an opportunity to get some practical experience judging patterns under the new rules, with volunteers acting as competitors.

After a short break, the umpire committee moved on to the updated rules for pre-arranged sparring, one of the changes being that only one acrobatic sequence per competitor will now be allowed per performance. Master Katz also explained that only 1 successful blow should be performed at the end of the routine and all other techniques should be defended against or dodged in line with the Taekwon-Do principle of ‘One Blow, One victory’

The IUC broke for lunch following the prearranged section and resumed with the umpiring procedures for sparring being presented by Mr Kurt Ottesen. After presenting the rules and procedures for running a sparring ring council, the ITF Delegates asked some of the current competitors in attendance to demonstrate the level of contact which is acceptable in competition as well as what would be deemed heavy contact. One of the more notable changes to the sparring rules is that one point may now be deducted for grabbing or holding, the Umpire Committee spent some time explaining the circumstances in which a minus point would be given. Again the participants had an opportunity to get some practical experience as part of a jury council for a sparring match under the guiding eye of Master Sandy Dunbar, Master Vones and Mr Ottesen, while Master Katz displayed video clips of various interactions that could occur within a sparring match and asked the participants to decide what action should be taken in each situation. This proved a very useful method for helping the umpires to sharpen their skills and make the correct decision.

The final section of the day was comprised of the umpiring procedure for special technique and power testing. Mr Ottesen led this section and explained how these events where as important to ITF competition as sparring and patterns and that in the future we can expect to see these events taking place on the centre ring of a major championships.
The IUC finished at 7:30pm with a closing address by Grandmaster Bos. GM Bos thanked the Irish Taekwon-Do Association for their warm hospitality and once again congratulated the association on running an excellent event. Grandmaster Bos said he looked forward to returning to Ireland for a future event to be held at the superb facilities of the University of Limerick campus. Master Wheatley then closed the event by thanking GM Bos and the tournament and umpire committee for a very enjoyable and informative course as well as thanking all those in attendance for making the journey to Limerick. All 180 participants then took position for a group photo and with that the IUC had come to an end.

The Irish Taekwon-Do Association would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Grandmaster Bos and the ITF Tournament and Umpire Committees for an excellent course and would like to thank all our guests from abroad for their company over the weekend and we hope to see you in Ireland again for the International Instructors Course to be held in Kerry in January 2013. Gratitude must also be expressed to the event sponsors Top Pro Sports, Acist Skillnet and Clare Spring water. Finally a big thank you must be given to the organising committee, the local committee and the volunteers who put in a huge amount of work in the months prior to the event as well as over the weekend to make the International Umpires Course such a success.

The ITA Summer Camp will run from Friday 13th– Monday 16thJuly, in Mt. Mellary Scout Centre in Waterford. The camp is open to all students over 10 years of age, yellow belt and above. The camp will involve training with national and international instructors from all over Ireland. All accommodation and meals will be provided in this safe and secure venue.

The camp will provide an opportunity to train in all aspects of Taekwon-Do with some of Irelands best instructors as well as fun activities and sports. As well as improving your physical skills this camp is a great opportunity to make new friends and have fun. If you are interested in attending the camp please speak to one of the instructors.

The ITA Summer Blackbelt grading took place on the weekend of 16 & 17th of June in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. 38 candidates presented for testing for grades ranging from 1st to 5th Degree Blackbelt. The event was hosted in the Rathcoole Community Centre by Carl & Stephen Smullen of Newlands Taekwon-Do Club. The grading was run in two adjoining training halls with two examiner panels on both days to ensure maximum efficiency.

The first day of testing began at 12pm with all candidates being welcomed by Master Kenneth Wheatley, 7th Dan, ITA President. The candidate where then split into their respective groups and the grading began in front of the two panels. The first examiner panel was made up of Mr Tim Forde, 6th Dan, Mr Pat Barry 6th Dan, Mr Ken Leahy 5th Dan, Mr Kevin Kinsella 5th Dan and Mr Declan McMullen 5th Dan and this panel was responsible for testing for 2nd Dan with 14 students taking to the floor. The second panel made up of Master Patrick O’Rourke 7th Dan, Mr. Terry Donnelly 6th Dan, Mr Paul Delea 6th Dan, Mr Niall Jones 5th Dan and Mr Donal O’Donaghue 5th Dan had the responsibility of testing two candidates for 3rd Dan, three for 4th Dan & one candidate for 5th Dan. The grading was overlooked by Master Wheatley, while Mr Stephen Ryan 5th Dan tested the candidate’s knowledge of Taekwon-Do theory. The candidates where tested on all aspects of Taekwon-Do including fundamental hand techniques, kicking techniques, patterns, step sparring, free sparring, self-defence, power-breaking, special technique & Taekwon-Do theory. The grading finished at 6pm with the examiners meeting to confirm the results, before the group was lined up and the results were given.

Day 2 began at 11am and was for those testing for 1st degree blackbelt, marking a major milestone in their Taekwon-Do career. Again two panels where present with the first panel consisting of Master O’Rourke, Mr Delea, Mr Donnelly, Mr Jones and Mr Kinsella, while the other panel was made up of Mr Barry, Mr Forde, Mr Adrian Byrne 5th Dan, Ms Anne Marie Kinsella 5th Dan and Mr McMullen. 18 candidates presented for testing and the grading was carried out in the same format as on the previous day, the students had been issued with the call sheet two weeks prior the grading and so where able to tailor their final weeks preparation, however two additional hand & foot technique where called during the grading, testing the depth of the candidates technical knowledge. Sunday’s grading finished at 4:30pm and results were given to the candidates by Master Wheatley.

Of the 38 candidates who presented for testing over the weekend, 28 where successfully promoted. This highlighted the high standard that is demanded from candidates at the ITA blackbelt gradings. Congratulations to all who were successful.

In June 2012, Carl & Stephen Smullen travelled to Netanya in Israel for the KMG G-Camp, a six day Krav Maga training camp for Krav Maga instructors from all over the world. 2012 was Carls 3rdyear attending the camp, which was lead by Krav Maga Global (KMG) Chief Instructor, Eyal Yanilov who was assisted by Global Team member Tommy Blom.

The training began with defending against various knife attacks on the beach before later that day moving to the Wingate Institute, in a camp that delivered many different training environments including beaches, training halls, forests, water training, training on rocks, night training and in the “Space” country club.

The camp was tough but a very enjoyable experience with training starting before 9am and running through to 7pm everyday. With this also followed by night training where the participants experienced various lighting conditions and how the defensive tactics changed accordingly.

On day 5 the grading took place, with Carl testing for Graduate Level 4 (G4) under Expert Level Tommy Blom & Stephen testing for G3 under Master Level Ze’ev Cohen. The testing began at 9:30am and all the participants were put through their paces for the following 6 hours with all aspects of the KMG Curriculum being covered as well as sparring, some fitness & pressure drills. The grading was followed by some Mental training in which various situations were imagined and all the possible outcomes from negative to positive were thought out in an attempt to stay relaxed in the event of the situation occurring. The following morning most participants trained in defence against gun threats, while Stephen & the rest of the G3 group were tested for an additional 2 hours on the ground defence aspects of the syllabus not tested the previous day.

Later on the final day of the camp came feedback & results of the grading. With both Carl & Stephen achieving good results & both progressing to the next level. The camp finished & this gave the participants some time to relax & enjoy the sun & the beach, before heading home early the next morning.

On Sunday 27th of May, 82 members of ITA clubs from around the country ranging from 3rd Kup to 7th Dan travelled to Ennis for the second ITA technical seminar of 2012. The seminar was led by the ITA technical committee of Master Kenneth Wheatley 7th Dan, Mr Niall Jones 5th Dan & Mr Stephen Ryan 5th Dan and the three instructors did an excellent job in providing instruction and feedback to all participants. Of the 82-strong group, 48 blackbelts where in attendance, this included several instructors and high-degree blackbelts and their dedication to Taekwon-Do is underlined by the fact that they should attend such an event and strive to further their knowledge and skill.The seminar covered many aspects of the ITA syllabus including step-sparring, technical kicking, fundamental movements as well as the 24 patterns. The technical committee showed their superb technical knowledge as they invited and answered all questions that the participants put to them. The seminar was organised very well to keep students motivated as the instructors rotated the topic being covered frequently to keep the group’s attention. The intense heat of the day made it tough at times and the participants where grateful for the water breaks given throughout the day.

The morning session began at 10am and focused on the various motions & fundamental sequences that can be found in the patterns as well as colour belt patterns up to Yul Gok Tul. The patterns training was broken up with a module on step sparring and a very enjoyable session on technical kicking with Mr Ryan where he demonstrated several progressions for building strength and skill in kicking techniques.

The afternoon session began with Mr Jones leading an enjoyable games-based warm up and was the then followed by the completion of the colour belt patterns before the group was divided as the blackbelt patterns where covered and the colour belts focused on step sparring. A highlight of day occurred during the patterns sessions when the instructors invited participants to come up in small groups and have their patterns assessed, this gave the volunteers a chance for some personal feedback on their own performance and gave the onlookers a chance to ask any questions they may have.

The seminar concluded at 4:30pm after 6 hours of training in the intense heat. It was a very successful seminar and one that participants of all grade and age where sure to benefit from. Congratulations must go to the technical committee of Master Wheatley, Mr Ryan & Jones for conducting an excellent seminar and making it very informative & enjoyable for all involved. The next technical seminar is scheduled for September in Cork.

Newlands TKD hosted a club grading on Saturday 26thMay. This again was a big day for the club with most of the students from our Taekwon-Do classes grading. There was a wide range of students grading with some taking part in their first grading for Yellow Tag to the higher grades testing for Red Tag. The students had been busy in their preparations over the previous weekspracticing patterns, sparring, self defence, technical kicking & special techniques. The testing was conducted by Mr. Stephen Cooley 6thDan & Mr. Hong Looi 4thDan, members of the ITA examiners panel. The grading was a very enjoyable day for all those who took part and the hard work paid off with some excellent performances on the day. Congratulations to all who were successful.

The ITA Dublin Open took place in Baldoyle Badminton Centre on the 19th& 20thof May. The 2ndlarge tournament for the ITA in 2012 brought 500 competitors from 29 clubs to the tournament including 32 from Newlands TKD. The championships had sections for Senior & Juniors, from Yellow Belt to Black Belt. There were some excellent performances on the day, with a lot of students making their debut at a major championship. Click Here for pictures. The clubresults whereas below:

From the 11th– 13thMay, Newlands TKD instructors Carl & Stephen Smullen participated in an International Instructors Course (IIC) in Livingston, Scotland. The IIC was conducted by the International Taekwon-Do Federation Technical Committee of Grandmaster Hector Marano, Grandmaster Willem Bos & Grandmaster Ung Kim Lan. There were 120 participants including 11 masters from 13 countries. The Newlands TKD instructors joined up with the other ITA representatives including ITA Masters, Master Wheatley & Master O’Rourke as well as 15 other ITA members. The IIC covered all aspects of ITF Taekwon-Do including all 24 patterns, sparring, step sparring, self defence & technical kicking. A big well done to all ITA members who participated in this event and we also like to wish senior members; Mr. Carl Smullen, Mr. Stephen Smullen, Mr. Ross Smith and Mr. Hong Looi best of luck in their preparation towards the upcoming ITA Black Belt Summer Grading in June. Click here for pictures

Dublin Developmental Competition, April 2012

Portmarnock Taekwon-Do Club hosted a developmental tournament on the 15thApril in Portmarnock Leisure Centre. The competition was for students under 12 years old and up to green belt level with students from Newlands Taekwon-Do, Rivervalley TKD, Integrity Martial Arts, Donabate TKD, Blanchardstown TKD & Portmarnock TKD all taking part. Each competitor had 2 to 3 matches on the day regardless of the result, this ensured all students gained as much competition experience as possible. The competition was unique in that a senior instructor was placed on each ring to coach both competitors regardless of which club they came from. The competition was run in a very friendly environment and all competitors, instructors and parents enjoyed the day.

More Pictures from the competition day can be seen at our online Photo Gallery.

ITA Cork Open 2012

The 2012 ITA Cork Open took place on the 18th& 19thFebruary 2012. The Neptune Stadium was the venue for the first big tournament of the year consisting of 578 competitors representing 31 clubs. Newlands Taekwon-Do sent 25 competitors over the two day event & had some fantastic performances. Well done to all who took part. Below are the results from the Newlands TKD competitors:

Competitor

Result

Artur Janos

1st (Sparring)

Síofra Hennessy

1st (Sparring)

Kamil Falowski

1st (Sparring)

Catherine Klimowa

1st (Sparring)

Jack Nolan

2nd (Patterns)

Jack Nolan

2nd (Sparring)

Claire O’Sullivan

2nd (Sparring)

Angelica Milevska

2nd (Sparring)

Artur Janos

3rd (Patterns)

Angelika Dimanarig

3rd (Sparring)

Warren Kiely

3rd (Sparring)

Mergim Frrokaj

3rd (Sparring)

Pictures from both competition days can be seen at our online Photo Gallery.

Excellent Performance in the Irish Cup

The Newlands TKD Team attended the I.T.A. Irish Cup on Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th of November 2011. This year the event was held in the state of the art University of Limerick, Sports Arena. A team of 23 from Newlands where among the 530 competitors who took part in the event over the two days which included sparring and patterns as well as power breaking and special technique for black belts. The Newlands Team performed excellently over both days taking home 6 Gold, 8 silver & 3 bronze, leaving Newlands TKD 5th place of 36 clubs in the overall club standings, an excellent achievement from our small team of yellow & green belts. Newlands Taekwon-Do instructor Stephen Smullen also competed in the senior blackbelt section winning Gold in the 3rd Dan patterns sections and taking silver in the senior heavyweight section after a tight final with Darren Smith. Full results where as below, please click here for pictures.

Competitor

Result

Section

Lee Kavanagh

Gold

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Patterns (male)

Claire O’Sullivan

Gold

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Patterns (female)

Reece Byrne

Gold

11 – 13 Green Belt Patterns

Megan Mc Daid

Gold

U10 -145 Yellow/Green Sparring

Artur Janos

Gold

Male Yellow/Green Sparring

Tanya Purcell

Gold

Female Yellow/Green Sparring

Stephen Smullen

Gold

Senior 3rd Dan Patterns

Tanya Purcell

Silver

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Patterns (female)

Adam Mc Eneaney

Silver

U10 +145 Yellow/Green Sparring

Angelika Diminarig

Silver

11- 13 U145 Yellow/Green Sparring

Lee Kavanagh

Silver

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Sparring

Mergim Frrokaj

Silver

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Sparring

Claire O’Sullivan

Silver

Female Yellow/Green Sparring

Adam Delmer

Silver

Male +155 Male Yellow/Green Sparring

Siofra Hennessy

Silver

Female Yellow/Green Sparring

Stephen Smullen

Silver

Senior Blackbelt Heavyweight Sparring

Daniella Oana

Bronze

U10 -145 Yellow/Green Sparring

Reece Byrne

Bronze

Male +155 yellow/green Sparring

Jack Nolan

Bronze

14 – 17 Yellow/Green Sparring

Dublin Developmental Competition, October 2011

On Sunday 16th of October Newlands Taekwon-Do Club hosted a developmental competition in the Clondalkin Leisure Centre. The competition was for students under 12 years old and up to green belt level. Over 120 competitors took to the floor from Newlands Taekwon-Do, Rivervalley TKD, Integrity Martial Arts, Donabate TKD & Portmarnock TKD. Each competitor had 2 to 3 matches on the day regardless of the result, this ensured all students gained as much competition experience as possible. The competition was unique in that a senior instructor was placed on each ring to coach both competitors regardless of which club they came from. The competition was run in a very friendly environment and all competitors, instructors and parents enjoyed the day.

There was a very high standard of sparring on show and the young competitors showed great potential for the future. When the competition was finished the competitors were delighted to receive their participantion trophy for the effort they had put on on the day. Following the competition some members of of the Irish National Team, who had given up their Sunday to assist with the running of the competition stayed on for some final training ahead of the European Championships in Slovakia the following weekend. We now look forward to the Irish Cup which will take place in Limerick in November for yellow belts and higher grades. Pictures from the competition day can be seen at our online Photo Gallery.

Newlands Taekwon-Do Instructor Carl Smullen recently travelled to Surnadal, Norwayfor the National Taekwon-Do Norway, Summer training camp, also attending the camp from Irelandwas Mr. Hong Looi, Ms Sabina Mason & Mr. Paul King. The camp ran from Sunday 31stof July to Thursday August 4th. Summer training camps are very popular in Norway with the NTN running over 5 camps for various age groups in the different regions and this camp for adults was very popular with over 450 participants ranging from white belt to Master level all over the age of 16. The popularity of the camp was highlighted by those participants who where attending the camp for the 18thyear in a row.

The camp was led by some very high level instructors including Master Per Andresen, Master Per Christian Garnes, Mr. Roger Stokke and many other high level instructors and covered all aspects of Taekwon-Do including Patterns, Sparring, Special Technique, Technical Kicking, Self Defence and Step Sparring.

As well as the high-level Taekwon-Do training there was also a strong social element to the camp which created a great bond between the participants, the extra events included team-building games on the beach, a barbeque, a mountain-trekking trip, a quiz, and concert.

The Irish participants where invited to train with the Norwegian National team in a sparring session and it was great to train with the members who of their team who took bronze (alongside Ireland) in Team sparring in the world championships in New Zealand in March

We also had the opportunity to watch a grading at the camp, where two participants graded to 3rd Degree Blackbelt while Ms. Elin Roekke graded to 4thDan. All participants put on a very impressive display in front of the large crowd.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Master Andresen, Master Garnes, Mr. Stokke, Mr. Magnus Bjoergan & Ms. Hege Sagmo and all those at NTN Norway (there are way too many to name them all individually :-) ) for their hospitality and the excellent training over the training camp and we look forward to returning to the camp next year. Click here for pictures

The selections for the Irish National Taekwon-Do Team for the upcoming European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia took place on Saturday July 23rd in Donabate, Co. Dublin. Newlands Taekwon-Do instructor Mr Stephen Smullen was selected for 3rdDan Patterns, Team Patterns & Team Sparring for the championships.

Mr. Smullen will be hoping to build on his performance in the 2010 European Championships in Swedenwhere he took Bronze in patterns and the World Championships in New Zealandin March 2011 where he was part of the Bronze-medal winning Irish sparring team. The team now has several months of tough training ahead as they prepare for the championships; we wish them luck in training and in Slovakia

The Irish Taekwon-Do Association held its annual Summer Camp in Mt. Melleray Scout Centre, Co. Waterfordfrom Friday July 15th to Monday July 18th 2011. Students from Newlands Taekwon-Do and instructors Carl Smullen & Stephen Smullen where among the 90 participants ranging from yellow belt to 7th Dan black belt attended the camp, and some extra participants popped in to visit, for example Master O’Rourke VII Dan one of the ITA’s most senior members attended the first day of the camp just to enjoy the training. The participants arrived on Friday morning, dorms were assigned and the participants were divided into 2 groups, 10 to 12 year olds in group 1 and 13 years and older in group 2. The camp was also attended by several of the national team who used it as an opportunity to commence pre-season training for the upcoming European Championships. Over the 4 days there were many exciting and varied classes. To read the full report click more below.

Mr Paul King, current World Silver Medallist in -63kg sparring conducted a class on sparring where he imparted much of his philosophy on training methods and sparring tactics. Mr Adrian Byrne, member of the Irish National Coaching Panel, taught classes on sparring and used the “games for understanding approach” to sparring. This method involved building up a competitive game, where there is always a decision to me made, rather than the drills approach, this competitive games approach meant the students were constantly engaging the brain and using tactics for the whole session. Mr Byrne also conducted classes on plyometric and special technique. He taught exercises to increase the explosive power of the legs and jumping ability.

Mr Stephen Ryan, current World Silver Medallist in 4th – 6th Dan Pattern, conducted classes on Patterns and fundamental movements. The theme of the class was using the training secrets to improve the pattern performance; there was a big focus on using the sine wave properly to create maximum power, keeping the limbs in motion throughout the movement etc. Mr Ryan also conducted sessions on kicking and exercises to improve the balance, core and leg strength for kicking performance

Mr Carl Smullen III Dan conducted classes in self-defence; Mr Smullen is also a qualified Krav Maga instructor and his expertise in this area made for very enjoyable and informative training in this discipline. The Krav Maga methods of training compliment the Taekwon-Do philosophy very well as they are both striking arts and all participants really improved their self-defence skills over the 4 days.

Mr Mark Buckley VI Dan also conducted sparring training; his sessions proved to be perhaps the most physically demanding of all over the weekend but were thoroughly enjoyed by all, Mr Buckley used the assistance of Mr Dylan Fitzgibbon, 2 times World Champion in sparring, for his classes. Mr. Rigney V Dan, National Team member also conducted classes for the junior group in pattern and sparring, assisted by Mr Luke Laffan II Dan. Mr Terry Donnelly VI Dan, a very experienced competitor, also conducted a class on sparring for the junior group.

Master Wheatley VII Dan, ITA President, visited the camp on the Saturday and Sunday. He conducted classes in Pattern and fundamental movements and he really focused on the detail in each pattern ranging from Chon-Ji up to Tong-il.

This year we also wanted to raise the profile of women in Taekwon-Do and show that we value the female participant in what is a male dominated sport and so two female instructors were chosen to conduct classes at the camp. Ms. Laura Cullen III Dan, conducted classes in pattern and team pattern for the junior group and Ms. Sabina Mason III Dan, well known international athlete and medallist, conducted classes in sparring for the senior group. All participants enjoyed the classes being led by a female instructor.

In the evenings there was plenty to keep the participants entertained including a mini-tournament in Olympic handball, tag rugby and a Nintendo Wii competition in the games room and a campfire outside. Also in the evenings Mr. Ryan and Mr. Byrne conducted pattern consultations and despite the tiredness of participants from the days activities the consultations were very well attended.

Thanks to all participants for their effort over the 4 days and to the instructors who gave up their time to teach and impart their knowledge. Click here for Pictures

In June 2011, Carl Smullen along with other instructors from the Krav Maga Academy Ireland once again travelled to Netanya Israel for the KMG G-Camp, a six day training camp for Graduate level Krav Maga instructors. The camp began on Tuesday 14th of June and ran to Sunday the 19th.

Participants travelled from Australia, China, the United States, Russia and all over Europe to train with the top Krav Maga instructors in the world. Eyal Yanilov, the chief instructor of Krav Maga Global conducted most of the training personally with assistance from Global & International team members including Ilya Dunsky, Meyrav Ben-Haim and many others.

The camp was once again a tough and testing but enjoyable experience with training starting before 9am and running straight through until after 6pm everyday with just an hour break. Training locations varied from the Wingate Institute, to training on the beach & in the water, in a forest close to Haifaand several other locations.

Participants also took part in night training, where defensive tactics are changed by the level and position of light relative to the attacker & defender. Eyal also conducted a training session on a bus, which covered defending against armed & unarmed attackers in various positions (standing or seated beside or behind) in a tight space, this training simulates the limitations that apply if attacked at close-quarters on a bus, train, tram or other forms of transport.

On Saturday the grading took place, beginning at 11:30amthe test ran continuously to 6pmand covered all aspects of the KMG curriculum as well as sparring, fitness and pressure-testing drills. The testing groups were headed by Tal Knoves & Ilya Dunsky of the KMG Global team assisted by other Global & International team members including Franklyn Hartkamp, Ralf Ulbig, Peter Lakatos and many others.

Instructors from Irelandtook part in the test with Stephen Cooley and Oliver Sweeney grading to G4 while Carl Smullen graded to G3. The camp was once again very enjoyable and informative and allowed the Irish instructors a chance to train with the best instructors in the world and to make sure we deliver high-quality Krav Maga training at theirclubs in Ireland. Photos

Newlands Taekwon-Do Team took part in the Dublin Open Championships in the Baldoyle Badminton Arena on the 21st & 22ndof May. The championships had sections for Senior & Juniors and was used as part of the selection process for the upcoming European Taekwon-Do Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. The tournament had 422 competitors from over 30 clubs including 25 participants from Newlands Taekwon-Do. There were some excellent performances on the day, with a lot of students making their debut at a major championship. Click here for pictures. The club results where as below: